Julen Lopetegui is in charge at West Ham United, and barring some kind of Dickesian level twist of fate, he still will be in the New Year. Doubtful the club sacks him over the festive fixture congestion period, but then again, if they lose to Southampton FC, the overall worst side in the entire Premier League, well then who knows?!
We don’t think they will, but it would be a sackable offense if they did.
Boxing Day FYIs
West Ham United at Southampton FC
Kick off: 8pm, Thursday Dec 26, The St Mary’s, Southampton, UK
West Ham Preview Content: Team News Starting XI Prediction
PL Position: West Ham 14th, 20 pts Southampton FC 20th, 24 pts
Form Guide: West Ham LLWDD Southampton FC DLLLD
Google Result Probability: West Ham 44% Southampton FC 29% Draw 27%
We do think that Konstantinos Mavropanos will pass his late fitness test, as he’s battling an unspecified knock, and take his regular place in the first team. Merry Christmas everybody
West Ham United Starting XI Prediction at Southampton FC
Lukasz Fabianski; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Max Kilman, Aaron Cresswell; Tomas Soucek, Edson Alvarez; Mohamed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville; Danny Ings
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.